Paucity of somaclonal variation from immature embryo culture of barley

Abstract

Intact immature embryos of barley (cv. Golden Promise) and component tissues (the scutellum and embryonic axis) were cultured to produce callus. Regenerant plants were obtained from this callus and SC2 families raised. These families were examined in a field trial to search for somaclonal variation. No obvious variants were found confirming our previous unpublished results. The lack of somaclonal variation generated by barley tissue culture (which is in contrast to other species) was not a result of the tissue origin of the regeneration event.